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Technical Artist Rigging Skinning Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Absurd Ventures

Character Technical Artist

Santa Monica, CA · On-site

$130K - $165K/yr

Support and maintain character pipelines spanning modeling, rigging, skinning, deformation, and ... Provide technical guidance and mentorship to Character Artists and other content creators. Core ...

ARTHREX

OR

$126K - $151K/yr

Requisition ID: 66202 Title: Technical Artist III- UI/UX Main Objective : Assists in the ... rigging/skinning, VFX nodes, UI Design, creating and modifying shaders. Advanced knowledge of ...

The Mill

Technical Artist

Manhattan, NY

$139K - $166K/yr

The Mill is looking for an accomplished Technical Artist with UE4 Blueprints development skills ... Maya Rigging experience * Shader programming experience * Scripting skills with MEL, Python, C# ...

The Mill

Technical Artist

Manhattan, NY · On-site

$139K - $166K/yr

The Mill is looking for an accomplished Technical Artist with UE4 Blueprints development skills ... Maya Rigging experience * Shader programming experience * Scripting skills with MEL, Python, C# ...

Thatgamecompany

3D Character Artist (Mid-Senior)

$81K - $114K/yr

3D Character Artist (Mid-Senior) thatgamecompany is looking for a Mid-Senior 3D Character Artist to ... Familiarity with Maya rigging/skinning Nice to Haves: * A passionate Gamer * A Sky Player * Human ...

NxT Level

Technical Artist

Chicago, IL · On-site

$130K - $156K/yr

Lead efforts in building foundational systems for art to establish scenes, animation, rigging, FX ... Portfolio demonstrating the technical artistic ability, with a focus on custom shaders and vfx

NxT Level

Technical Artist

Chicago, IL · On-site +1

$130K - $156K/yr

Lead efforts in building foundational systems for art to establish scenes, animation, rigging, FX ... Portfolio demonstrating the technical artistic ability, with a focus on custom shaders and vfx

Moonlake AI

Technical Artist

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$149K - $179K/yr

The Role We're looking for a Technical Artist / 3D Generalist who can create high-quality ... Familiarity with physics-ready assets, rigging, articulation, collision, or procedural workflows

2K

Principal Character Technical Artist

San Mateo, CA · On-site +1

$133K - $198K/yr

Because of this, the Principal Character Technical Artist is one of the most vital roles in our ... You will use your mastery of DCC applications, Unreal Engine 5, rigging, and complex character and ...

2K

Principal Character Technical Artist

San Mateo, CA · On-site

$133K - $198K/yr

Because of this, the Principal Character Technical Artist is one of the most vital roles in our ... You will use your mastery of DCC applications, Unreal Engine 5, rigging, and complex character and ...

Konami Gaming, Inc

Technical Artist III

Las Vegas, NV · On-site

$85K - $110K/yr

Blending artistic and technical abilities, this role bridges the Art and Software teams, enabling ... Knowledge of 3D fundamentals: modeling, texturing/shading, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering.

KONAMI GAMING INC

Technical Artist III

Las Vegas, NV

$116K - $139K/yr

Blending artistic and technical abilities, this role bridges the Art and Software teams, enabling ... Knowledge of 3D fundamentals: modeling, texturing/shading, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering.

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Technical Artist Rigging Skinning information

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$95.5K

$138.7K

$153.5K

How much do technical artist rigging skinning jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 5, 2026, the average yearly pay for technical artist rigging skinning in the United States is $138,713.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $127,000.00 and $152,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Technical Artist Rigging Skinning vs Technical Artist Modeling?

AspectTechnical Artist Rigging SkinningTechnical Artist Modeling
Primary FocusCreating and implementing character rigs, skinning, and deformation setupsCreating 3D models, optimizing mesh topology, and detailing assets
Skills RequiredRigging techniques, skinning, scripting, understanding of anatomyModeling software proficiency, topology optimization, texturing
Work EnvironmentAnimation pipelines, character setup teams, game/film studiosAsset creation teams, environment and character modeling departments

While both roles are essential in the character creation pipeline, Technical Artist Rigging Skinning focuses on preparing characters for animation through rigging and skinning, whereas Technical Artist Modeling emphasizes creating and refining the 3D models themselves. Understanding these distinctions helps in choosing the right career path or job focus within the industry.

Infographic showing various Technical Artist Rigging Skinning job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 23% Full Time, and 77% Part Time. Highlights an 92% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 6% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $138,713 per year, or $66.7 per hour.

Character Technical Artist

Absurd Ventures

Santa Monica, CA

$130K - $165K/yr

Other

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 14 days ago

Job description

Summary
We are seeking a skilled Character Technical Artist to join our team and support the development of high-quality, performant characters for an all-new IP. This role sits at the intersection of art, animation, and engineering, ensuring that character assets are built, optimized, and implemented to the highest technical standards.


As a Character Technical Artist at Absurd Ventures, you will collaborate closely with Character Artists, Riggers, Animators, and Engineers to develop and maintain character pipelines, solve complex technical challenges, and help push the visual fidelity and performance of our characters in Unreal Engine.

Core Responsibilities 

  • Partner with Character Artists to ensure character models meet technical, performance, and pipeline requirements.
  • Support and maintain character pipelines spanning modeling, rigging, skinning, deformation, and engine implementation.
  • Diagnose and resolve character-related technical issues, including geometry, skinning, deformation, LODs, and performance constraints.
  • Collaborate closely with rigging and animation to ensure characters are animation-ready and behave correctly in-game.
  • Implement and validate characters in Unreal Engine, ensuring correct setup for materials, LODs, cloth, and physics.
  • Develop tools, scripts, and workflows to improve efficiency and consistency in character production.
  • Create and maintain technical documentation for character pipelines, workflows, and best practices.
  • Proactively identify risks related to character production, performance, or pipeline bottlenecks and communicate them clearly to Production and leadership.
  • Provide technical guidance and mentorship to Character Artists and other content creators.

Core Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience as a Character Technical Artist, Technical Artist, or similar role in the video game industry. Experience supporting character pipelines on at least one shipped AAA title.
  • Experience with character rigging, facial rigs, or motion systems.
  • Strong understanding of character modeling, topology, UVs, skinning, and deformation principles.
  • Significant experience working in Unreal Engine (preferably UE5), including character setup, LODs, physics, Control Rig and optimization.
  • Proficiency with industry-standard tools such as Maya and familiarity with Motion Builder, ZBrush and Substance Painter.
  • Solid scripting or tool development experience (Python, MEL, Blueprint, or similar).
  • Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex, cross-disciplinary issues.
  • Excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset. 

Plus if...

  • Familiarity with cloth, hair, or physics simulation workflows in Unreal Engine.
  • Experience with performance profiling and optimization on console hardware.
  • Previous experience establishing or evolving character pipelines on a large production.
  • Familiarity with proprietary or custom engine pipelines.

Description

  • Full-time job with benefits.
  • Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA.
  • Office is located near downtown Santa Monica - near metro and freeways.

The base pay range for this position is $130,000 to $165,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.


About Absurd Ventures
Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.

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